Our Vision

The mission of the Centre is to empower the ‘higher order’ leadership skills of current and future leaders.

  Our vision is to make The Centre a leading thinker, actor and doer in a more responsible approach to what leadership is, restoring our shared humanity, and inviting a deeper way of thinking about what the world needs for healing.

OUR PEOPLE

Caroline Watson

OUR FOUNDER

Caroline Watson is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum with a background in transformative approaches to learning and development, offering bespoke leadership development, coaching and consulting, at a high level to government and business leaders in service to a greater mission. Caroline first came to global attention with the founding of Hua Dan, a China-based social enterprise that affected the lives of over 32,000 migrant women and children through participation in theatre as a tool to develop their soft skills and leadership capacity.

The most significant thing that marks Caroline out in the field of leadership development is her commitment to what she calls ‘higher order’ leadership. Her many years of empowering leaders across all areas and across the globe has taught her that profound change can only come about through encouraging individuals to ‘dig deep’ into the more spiritual dimensions of their leadership journey to bring about leadership that elevates both ourselves and others. She has observed that a willingness to radically explore that deeper side of themselves is what sets visionary leaders apart from the rest. Her inspirational and innovative techniques encourage and inspire that ‘higher order’ leadership to emerge and empower the visionary thinking – and doing - of our world’s current and future Leaders.

Caroline has delivered trainings, speeches and workshops on the stages at Davos, Harvard, Oxford and LSE, and consulted with clients such as L'Oréal, Orange, Société Générale, the Prime Minister's Office of the UAE, UNESCO, ILO, World Economic Forum, CEDEP, Citibank and Goldman Sachs. She has studied at Harvard, Oxford, Yale, INSEAD and Lancaster. Born in Hong Kong, Caroline speaks English, French, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese and has lived and worked across many countries in Asia, Europe, MENA and North America.

Caroline is a visionary thought-leader and keynote-speaker and is regularly asked to speak at high-profile conferences around the world. You can watch her TED talk here and read her blog on Medium. For more information about her speaking topics and to hire her for an event, click here.

“Caroline is a visionary and trailblazer in thinking about innovation around the arts and social change. I do not know anyone who has catalyzed such thought leadership around the topic. Caroline is a transformative and inspiring changemaker in every way, and her commitment to her work comes through in her speaking style. Audiences are captivated by her passion in her presentations and spoken words. Caroline will not only mobilize audiences but truly energize.”

Christina Bain, Babson College, USA

OUR TEAM

Our team has a background in emerging markets and we know what it means to lead globally in our changing world. We leverage our experience as on-the-ground entrepreneurs who lead everyday at the coalface, and we understand that leadership is practiced, and this is key to our development.

  • Kirsten has a background in leadership acquired from several years working in University management.  Passionate about business development and creating global partnerships, she has spent significant time in Asia, liaising with multinational companies and creating talent pipelines for future graduates, as well as cultivating mutually beneficial opportunities between the university and organisations to create new symbiotic relationships.  Her biggest joy however, was working with thousands of students to help them realise their unique talents and skillsets, using coaching and workshops. 

    Three years ago, she took the leap and followed her lifelong dream of living in France, and pivoted her career to create her own business as an Instructional Designer, transforming the face to face learning experience in to e-learning experiences.  

    Kirsten supports The Centre of Arts and Global Leadership using her skills in leadership and instructional design, and hopefully anything where she feels she can provide value. 

    Tell us about some music, art or book that has affected you …

    I discovered Toulouse Lautrec when I was about 12 years old. His paintings encapsulated Paris, the epoch and theatre and a slightly exotic bohemian life.  When looking at his work,  I could hear the smells and sounds and imagine the paintings coming to life. Since, then I have been drawn to Paris and France, the culture, the food, the creativity, which ultimately motivated me to transform my life in ways I could never imagine. 

  • Cara has a background in all aspects of business management, administration and finance, having undertaken various Commercial Director roles for several international consulting companies. She has specific experience of setting up new business entities and offices throughout the Middle East and the USA. Cara also has experience of facilitating the delivery of professional training programmes for many companies throughout the world, together with experience of academia. She spent 3 years at the University of East Anglia, UK, as the Administrator for The Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment. This involved setting up systems for the newly created Centre, within a university environment, assisting the researchers and meeting all of the various funding and annual reporting requirements.

    20 years ago, Cara moved to France and set up a company, one element of which was offering business administration support to companies throughout Europe. Alongside this, and together with her husband, she bought an old farmhouse with many outbuildings and 20 acres of land, which they have enjoyed renovating and re-wilding together.

    Cara is the Executive Assistant to our Founder and CEO, Caroline Watson, and she provides a multitude of support to The Centre and its growing team of freelancers and consultants. No one day is the same working with Caroline with her limitless energy and drive, which is what makes it so exciting and invigorating to be part of the growing team.

    Tell us about some music, art or book that has affected you …

    Cara's new found passion is photography, and specifically the flora and fauna that are found in and around SW France, where she lives with her husband and a growing family of rescue dogs, as she also volunteers at a local animal refuge. Cara's photography inspiration comes from photographers such as Vyacheslav Mishchenko, and she enjoys trying to capture natural shots which play with light and textures, to create artistic photos which promote the incredible diversity that exists in all of our gardens and back yards.

  • John O’Hagan is a theatre artist/educator/advocate. Over the last 25+ years he has held multiple academic appointments including Performing Arts Department Head at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo, Creative Arts and Communications Division Head at Principia College, in Elsah, IL and Assistant Professor of Theatre at the University of Wyoming. He also served as the Director of Education for the Idaho Shakespeare Festival/Idaho Theatre for Youth. At each of these posts John has seen the enormously positive impact that arts engagement has in peoples lives - especially young people. John has worked as an actor and director for numerous regional theatre companies including two seasons as a member of the resident acting company at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He is a founding member of Bankside Repertory Theatre in Alton, IL. Now based in Dublin, Ireland he continues to work as a freelance actor, director and teacher.

    Tell us about some music, art or book that has affected you …

    THE ACTOR AND THE TARGET by Declan Donnellan has had a profound impact on every aspect of my work. Donnellan’s unselfish approach establishes that everything an actor needs lies outside of self. Clarity of action can be found by paying attention to others and our surroundings. This has implications far beyond the rehearsal hall. It is a wonderful reminder that only through and with others can we truly accomplish.

  • Richard focuses on all things strategic, and supports The Centre in developing what we do and how we do it. As a creative strategist, Richard brings people together around ideas, global issues and local contexts to ask what is possible - and then to explore how to make that happen. Richard has worked with start-ups, SMEs, NGOs and strategic business units across Europe and China as well as internationally renowned producers, artists and makers. He works with individuals and organisations to articulate aspirations and define strategic roadmaps for achieving them. Drawing on over 30 years of international experience, he helps partners develop impactful programmes of development activity through ideation, strategic planning, facilitation and mentoring.

    Tell us about some music, art or book that has affected you …

    I really value site-specific performance and sound installation – artistic experiences embedded in real world contexts that help us see afresh new possibilities and understandings about who we are and how we learn from each other.

  • Sona brings her experiences of leading a global majority led community business for 11 years, where she once volunteered for 18 months as a young graduate. She has supported over 420 organisations in a 25-year career and developed community networks after many years in key roles with socially enterprising organisations working with a focus on HIV and AIDS, training and employment, homelessness and community development. Sona places great emphasis on how people can use community development in tandem with community assets to enable lasting social change. After emigrating to France 4 years ago, she undertakes short and long term consultancy projects with grassroots organisations in Europe and the United Kingdom, alongside developing an organic hobby farm and creative retreat based on permaculture principles with her partner.

    Tell us about something that has affected you …

    One of the most fascinating real-life stories in France for Sona is offered up by Toussaint Louverture, whose formidable contribution to leadership motivated anti-slavery campaigners such as Frederick Douglass and creatives like Amie Cesare. Louverture is quoted as saying: "It is easy to cut down the tree of liberty, but not so easy to restore it to life."

  • Natika Washington, MBA is a leading ESG practitioner and an international development expert, having devoted a career to ensure equal access to human rights opportunities around the world, especially for women and girls. Natika is the creator of TOBY Strategies (Tomorrow Owned By You), a boutique consulting firm offering a diverse range of business services to corporations, nonprofits and small business leaders of all sizes.

    As former Vice President of Corporate Partnerships at Prison Fellowship, Natika led efforts to engage entities in investing in solutions to crime and incarceration. Prior to that, she served as the chief development officer at Polaris, a leader in the fight to eradicate human-trafficking. Natika spent more than 20 years working in the U.S. Government at the State Department where she worked in Secretary Clinton’s office. She was their director of global programs where she developed, implemented and tracked programs focused on diversity, equity and inclusivity. She was charged with implementing and monitoring gender integration in the U.S. State Department for eight years, both domestically and abroad. She managed the creation and execution of several multi-million-dollar initiatives in more than 90 developing countries. During this time, Natika liaised with foreign governments, foundations, and private-sector partners, including Delta Airlines, the Gates Foundation, the Goldman Sachs Foundation, and the Danish government, to build joint women’s empowerment partnerships.

    Natika is a decorated war veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She holds a master’s degree in business administration with a minor in cybersecurity from George Washington University and a bachelor of science in business communications. She recently completed the Johns Hopkins CSR certificate.

OUR VALUES

THE POWER OF SHARED SUCCESS

  • Integrity and honesty are at the heart of what we do and believe. It’s not that we don’t think leaders can and do make mistakes, rather, it is the commitment to growth and self-development that is the hallmark of our greatest leaders, the willingness to do our best and bring out the best in others.

  • Leadership is at once a privilege and a huge responsibility. A leader is no one without those that they lead and their sense of responsibility must go further than the enjoyment of the privileges that come with positions of power. We must forever remain accountable to those whom we lead and the wider communities within which we operate.

  • Machines can do so much for us now, but the one thing that will always separate humans from machines is their capacity to ‘go deep’. The radical exploration of self and our innate spiritual identity is what draws out our uniqueness and our sense of profound contribution in the world.

  • Leadership is primarily an act of service, a commitment to empowering ourselves and others in service to the greater good. It is about subjugating a sense of ego towards a higher cause that elevates all mankind and acknowledges that our successes are in concert with the contributions of others too.